Word Origin & History

collateral late 14c., "accompanying," also "descended from the same stock," from O.Fr. collateral, from M.L. collateralis "accompanying," lit. "side by side," from L. com- "together" + lateralis "of the side," from latus "a side" (see oblate (n.)). Lit. sense of "parallel, along the side of" attested in Eng. from c.1450.

Example Sentences for collateral

Then here is indirect heredity, that of the collateral branches.

Both testimonies are unsupported by any collateral evidence.

I am to be the collateral for a loan which you are to secure from him.

You offer your daughter, as security for the loan; he accepts the collateral!

The truth of his statements cannot be established by any collateral evidence.

Collateral and incidental questions cannot be pursued in details.

Walker (Mrs. Elizabeth), a collateral relation to Shakspeare, 21.

But there were collateral descents from Shakespeare's sister.

The collateral evidence, however, is to the effect that it was in 1813.

A right of blood, although on the Champney side distant and collateral.